Donated $110 through Kiva, a microcredit site
I believe in microcredit. I believe in helping people help themselves and people around them through entrepreneurship. Access to capital is hard if you're just starting a business, and microcredit loans bridge that step. Besides, it's great learning a little bit about the people you're lending to, instead of just donating to a big organization.
I believe in microcredit. I just hadn't done anything about it until today, when I read Quinn's blog post about receiving a $25 Kiva gift certificate and lending to a barber in Cambodia. I registered on the site and lent $100 from my charity budget.
![my-loans[7]](http://sachachua.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/my-loans7.png)
I lend to women, because statistics show that they have a higher repayment ratio compared to men. I prefer to lend to people who have had experience with microlending and business. In particular, I prefer to lend to women with children and a business, because they've got really good reasons to manage the business well and they're used to handling lots of things going on at the same time. I also prefer to lend to groups, because they have good social support and motivation.
I believe in microcredit, and I'm glad that I can do something about it. In fact, I'm going to follow Quinn's example here and regularly give away gift certificates, one each month. =) Maybe even two, if I like the system.
Now if Kiva would partner with a microfinance organization in the Philippines, that would be awesome.
Save to - del.icio.us - Digg it - reddit - StumbleUpon
wow, that's incredible! I'm glad you explained your rationale behind who you lent to, great things to think about. Lending to the barber was a bit of my hat tip to my grandfather in Hong Kong (who I never met), as he owned barbershops which makes me assume that he was a barber.
It is pretty neat to get an email in a couple of weeks when enough people have contributed so that the loan is actually made. And I do so like that a lot of times they report their status in their native tongue. They're blogging and they don't even know it.
I'm looking forward to reading those updates. It reminds me of how some people sponsor children in developing countries, and they hear from them once in a while…